I haven't forgotten
by EllePepper
Summary: Horatio and Ryan get a call to a body in the Everglades, only to find that the call is part of something much bigger, and much uglier than they could realize. And Stetler much worse than they suspected. M rating for mentions of Physical and sexual abuse.
1. Bad Luck

It was just a regular morning in Miami for Horatio and Ryan. The two of them had just finished a double when they had gotten a call. Db in the Glades. They had rolled easy, a kid and his friends out partying had nearly hit the body. It was obvious it had been there a while.

Horatio got out of the Hummer, carefully parked to allow access without blocking the only road. He stared down at the body before him, face down, obviously a murder. He'd been told it would be a couple of hours before the Me could get there because of a large accident on the Causeway.

Horatio later wasn't sure what had tipped him off but he dove sideways just as the bullet came flying over his left shoulder. He rolled, reaching for his weapon, watching as Ryan slid down behind the back wheel, proned out and started firing from under the Hummer.

The car sped past, Horatio firing from the front wheel, Ryan firing from underneath near the back axel. It was the shotgun that took the Hummer out of commission, flattening both the front and rear tire on the driver's side with two well placed shots before the car sped off leaving the two CSIS stranded. Horatio was just easing up from his position when his gun whipped around. Before he could do anything more than face his assailant, he heard the gunshot. There was no time Horatio slid down back against the hummer.

Ryan wolfe found himself staring at a pair of cold green eyes. _No__quiero__hacerte daño__._ My complaint is with _el__Pelirrojo." _

Ryan cursed realizing why the shooter had chozen this particular time to come out of hiding. His slide was back and locked, and his extra clip, well, his other extra clip was in the shooters sightline.

"Put down the gun."

Ryan wasn't sure how the young man managed it, but he kept the gun pointed at Horatio as he stripped the young officer of his badge and the snub-nose revolver he kept at his ankle. Ryan didn't dare try, knowing that at the range the kid was at, Killing Horatio was easy.

"What do you want?"

"Just get your hands up. Before anything else happens there are some rules, you use the radio or try to escape, I will leave you for the gators, you do as I ask, and I'll let you go home." The gun hand was steady but the voice waivered. "Take his gun."

Ryan lunged, only to be brought up short by a bullet thudding into the ground just in front of him. "The next one goes in your boss here."

Horatio moved slightly trying to not lean on his shooting arm. The pain that was radiating from it told him quite clearly that he'd been shot. Mentally he cursed himself for not paying enough attention.

Ryan shifted his weight and rose, moving back towards the hummer enough to show he wasn't going to try again, and gain some purchase on the slippery bank. He moved closer watching as the gun followed his move.

Horatio Caine pursed his lips in that way that told people he was thinking, and that whatever thought was occupying his mind was particularly unpleasant. He was trying to raise his hands as he had been ordered, but the motion was stopped not only by the pain but also the tenderness. The edge of the bullet wound felt like sandpaper against the shirt.

"Keep your hands up." This time the command was directed at Horatio.

"You," The figure stopped to glance at the badge it had stripped from the young CSI. "Wolfe. Take his gun, hip and ankle. "

Ryan swallowed hard and saw H, grimacing in pain, nod, almost imperceptibly. "It's ok Mr Wolfe."

Ryan smiled, at first he had hated that, but now he understood that he called him 'Mr wolfe' as a sign of respect. As the youngest member of the team, he was speaking to him as he would an elder.

Ryan, as quickly as he could stripped H of both his side-arms trying to hide his concern for H with a glance away.

This time the answer was a slight sigh. Ryan could see that H wasn't doing well. Emotional pain H could handle, physical pain, that was a different story. H squinted at the figure that stood between him and the Hot Miami sun. The young man was obviously terrified, and this stretch of the everglades was so far off the radar there wasn't even Cell service out here.

Ryan could see how pale Horatio's skin was getting and knew he had to see to that bullet soon or H would be out of commission.

"Now, we are both unarmed, will you let me see to his shoulder?"

The man nodded as Horatio finally sunk to the ground.

"What- What do you want?" The quiet question was halting, not out of fear, but pain that was etched all over Horatio's face.

"I want what you promised me. I want you to put right what was wrong."

"I- I don't understand." Any further speech was cut off by a sharp intake of breath as Ryan put his hand on H's ribs to check and see if they were broken.

"Just patch him up and leave."

"The lieutenant isn't in any condition to do much, even if I patch up his shoulder, he will have trouble with his hand until we get him to a doctor. One look at that hardware in his shoulder and your goose is cooked. Besides, the car is stuck until Transpo comes."

"Then I guess I will have to make sure that there are no witnesses when it is over."

"Ryan shook his head. Right now things are not irreparable, but they will be if you kill either one of us." Ryan gently probed the shoulder realizing the bullet had gone through the fleshy part of his shoulder and was not too far under the skin of his back. "I think I can remove it."

H nodded breathing heavily through gritted teeth.

"Do you feel any pins and needles?"

Horatio shook his head.

Ryan gestured for him to remove his now blood-soaked shirt. At any other time, the sight of his nearly bare back would have sent shivers down Ryan's spine, but right now he had to focus on what was at hand.

"I need my kit, it's behind you."

Ryan tossed a few small rocks aside. He knew even with the phone GPS there was a good chance it would be hours before anyone found him. He looked back at the hummer.

"Look, you can keep him covered but I need to reach into the back of the hummer to get the first aid kit and a vest."

"No vest."

Once I've done what I can for the shoulder I need to immobilize the arm. I can strap it under the vest so that he can move. I'll help him with what he needs his hands for."

"No."

"Look, you wouldn't have gone through all the trouble if you didn't want his help, If I don't do this he will be unconscious soon. We have some supplies for shock and dehydration otherwise he's of no use to you and you may as well shoot us both now."

Ryan stood, there eyeing the man with the gun, hoping that he wouldn't take the other option. He tried not to let his hands shake. And he stomped down on his checking. He might be OCD, but he would be damned before he would let it kill H.

The man nodded, Keeping the wilting H under the Gun as Wolfe ran to the Hummer. He lifted the back and pulled out the hiking kit, the first aid kit and then a bulletproof vest. Before he slammed the door he hit the panic button in the back, and made sure the small red light was flashing.

First he opened a bottle of water, which he gave to H watching him down it in nearly one gulp. He opened a second and handed the hiking pack to H gesturing for him to lay on his stomach with the pack under his chest.

Tell me about the case." H's voice was almost a whisper as Ryan probed the wound. He knew H was trying to keep his mind busy to ignore the pain.

"You don't remember me?"

"You have me at a bit of a disadvantage."

"John Douglas." The young man's voice was panicked, He couldn't be much older than Kyle.

H paused for a moment, "Douglass? As in Jeffery?"

The young man nodded.

H smiled. "I remember you JD." His voice dropped. "Surely there was no need for this, you knew you could always come to me."

"But when I needed you most you were vacationing in Rio."

"It wasn't a vacation."

"What the hell else is in rio?"

"JD I-I went after the man who murdered my wife. Shot her down on the steps of the courthouse."

"But I needed you Horatio."

"Tell me what happened."

Ryan finally managed to get the bullet out and wrap the wound, using sterile pads and pieces of the blood-soaked tank top H wore under his shirt. H put his shirt back on and winced as he pulled on the shoulder.

Carefully Ryan bound his shooting hand to his stomach, keeping the shoulder as at rest as he could before slipping the body armor over H's head and cinching it tight. Besides the shoulder H had a few cracked ribs and so Ryan hoped to help both of them at the same time, immobilizing the arm and the ribs both at the same time.

He pinched himself at the thought of running his hands over H's back. Now was not the time for fantasies. He had to deal with the real world.

H sat up and gingerly leaned against a small tree. The hummer was out of commission, the kid had made it clear.

"Tell me what happened."

My step-father, Jeffery Douglass married my mom Carmen Perez, she was a waitress at Biscayne Bistro. I knew he was a bad man, then he tried to use me as a hostage a couple years ago. He managed to get the case kicked because a witness vanished."

Horatio sipped the water and nodded. "Ok. So what- what do you need from me?"

"Last year I was going through the mail and I opened a package for my Father, a Package from you. Inside was a picture "Jane Doe Douglas Age Nine. And the words "I haven't forgotten."

"I didn't say anything to my father, but I looked up as much as I could on the accident, and I recognized you from dad's case. I've told others but no one believes me and when I tried to come to you Rick told me you were on Vacation in Rio."

"You are just like everyone else, Just like _El hombre__malo_. You promise help and do nothing when we need you."

The young man shivered despite the heat. "He offered to help." The young man moved, forcing H to turn his head or have the young man in his blind spot.

"You Lied!" The gun went off, but this time the bullet merely whizzed past Horatio to drive itself into the mud.

"You said that whenever I needed help, come to you. " The gun shook. "I came, I asked for Leiutenant Caine, and a prissy guy in a black suit told me you had gone to Rio _las vacaciones__, dijo, __no__sabía__cuánto tiempo_. I didn't know him at first. And then he introduced himself, Rick. _El hombre__mal_o. Why do you work with such an animal?"

"Stetler." H's disgust was evident. "_Él__no es__amigo__mío."_

"When he said his name I knew him—we all know him. _Los niños__perdidos_, we all know him and his friends." The young man's voice was afraid, his cheeks red with shame. "He said he would give you my message if I paid him."

"What did he ask for?"

"He wanted me to go to some people, talk to them, _Los Diablos de la Noche_. I said no, I knew they were bad men. But when I said no he demanded something else _una__mamada_. Said that was your price too."

Horatio's brain froze. He heard the word but his brain would not hear the translation he knew. He had known that Rick was bent, he didn't know that Rick was a pedophile that preyed on helpless boys. Horatio heard his own voice asking the question as much for Ryan's benefit as for his own assurance that he had heard correctly. "Let's be clear here." H's voice dropped, "he asked for sexual favors?"

The young man nodded. "And he said you would too, that your help came at a price _una__mamada_ _o peor_ . " The young Man's voice failed him. He didn't have the words in English or Spanish for what else Rick Stetler had asked for.

"JD that—that man is a liar. _Él__es__un__mentiroso_. He no longer works for Miami Dade, in fact, he's in jail right now."

Horatio's expressive blue eyes radiated pain as he spoke softly in Spanish. _Créeme__. __Confía en mí__._

_"__Él__asesinó__a mi__madre. _That's why I need your help." The words brought the young man's hands to his side, and he slid to the ground in tears. "_Nadie__me__cree__._ _Dicen__que__se suicidó_. _Ella__estaba feliz__. __La vida era__buena." _

The young man was sobbing nearly uncontrollably now. He had been so terrified that Horatio was one of Ricks Men.

Horatio played the scene in his head. The child had wanted him alone so he couldn't tell Rick, he was afraid Ryan was one of them too.

"Listen to me. _Escúchame. _I will help you."

Ryan's anger at the child had evaporated at Horatio's near whisper. The child had been terrified that Stetler was right.

"Where did you get the gun?" Ryan's words caught them offguard.

"I stole it from my Stepdad."

Finally Ryan could hear sirens in the distance. "Listen, H there is no reason to tell them what went down."

H smiled. "How do we explain this?"

"There was another car here right?"

Horatio nodded. A car full of Gang bangers.

"They were trying to kill me." JD said, "They were going to shoot me, they tossed me out of the car, and while you were shooting at them I managed to get away."

Ryan reached over and picked up the gun. He flicked on the safety before popping the clip and removing the bullets. He carefully reloaded each of them and then re-inserted the clip, certain he had smudged all prints beyond recognition.

"The boy surrendered the gun to us, and it was compromised in the gunbattle." Ryan smiled. "I pulled the bullet out because I had to, unsure how long it would be before medical help got here and I didn't want it to get infected which happens pretty quickly here."

Ryan made sure that the scene matched their story, scuffing the ground enough to make it believeable for the story, and hide any evidence to the contrary.

"One more thing."

Without any warning Ryan hit the young man square in the face. It would bruise but nothing was broken. Then he had the young man scrabble back as if trying to escape.

By the time the police, the ME and the response team arrived, all three of them were sitting against the hummer sipping water out of plastic bottles and speaking quietly in spanish.

Ryan put his hand against Horatio's shoulder to keep him from rising to meet them.

The paramedics rushed over to see them. "Path cleared to the right there." Ryan said pointing to the flag that told them they would not disturb the scene."

"What took you so long Frank?" Horatio's voice was teasing.

"Traffic on the causeway." Frank replied. To anyone who didn't know them it would have seemed strange, but those who knew him, knew that particular set of phrases had various meanings.

"You just can't stay out of trouble can you Wolfe?"

Ryan smiled."We're ok, mostly, H took a round in the shoulder, the kid here is a bit beat up, and I think I might have taken some shrapnel in the back of my leg." Ryan said. "This was our caller. He pointed to the young man. "The body is a little under twelve feet from the front bumper of the Hummer. We had just started seeing to the scene when the rest of the boys opened fire, they jumped into the car and sped away.

"It's a Black charger, Licence Ocean Ocean7 Libra Tango Kilo."

Frank wrote down the numbers.

"And Frank, the three of us were talking about a trip to Rio, see if anyone else is interested?"

Frank nodded. He bit his lip, considering how to ask his question without tipping his hand that this was anything other than a couple of friends making sure they were ok. "So, we going to see any ghosts?"

"Hope not frank." Was H's terse reply. They thought they had covered all of the bases, but they were not certain.

Frank put a hand on Ryan's shoulder. "I gotta get this BOLO out, panhandle to Keys."

Ryan nodded.

"And Frank?" Horatio grit his teeth as they helpled him onto the gurney, "Friends and Family."

Frank nodded.


	2. Ashes redux

****Author's note** Thank you for those who have reviewed. For the couple of you who have asked, I've never been a fan of Stetler, so I tend to make him a very bad guy. Anyone who would hit a woman is evil in my book. I have not decided yet if Stetler is as bad as he is being made out to be. Input would be appreciated. So **

**Here we go.*****

Chapter 1: "Ashes Redux."

Horatio had spent the night in the hospital, and other than having his arm in a sling, he was happy to be out. Caine wouldn't feel safe until he could fire his gun again, but Alexx had told him it would be at least another week.

Ryan and Eric were taking turns driving him, as he was not cleared for a department car yet. Iab had pounced on the two CSI's almost as soon as the hospital told them that the two men were available for visitors. The new Lead of the IAB was a Leiutenant John Oswald, A six-foot black man who, despite being IAB was likeable.

Horatio had met the man only once before, back when he himself was a bomb rat, and they had been called out to the police station to diffuse a suspicious package. The package had turned out to be a hoax, but the two men had hit it off instantly.

"Caine."

"Oz?" Horatio looked up from his desk as the shadow fell over him. "What can I help you with?"

He held out the report. "I just need your signature on the incident report. And then, as soon as Doctor Woods signs off on your shoulder, I'm going to recommend a session at the range, just to make sure nothing tightens, as long as you are within guidelines, you will be cleared for the street again."

Horatio nodded and reached out to sign the paper.

"Horatio, I know sometimes things get fudged, I know sometimes things don't happen according to the handbook. I won't allow you to hurt someone, but I do take some latitude with "Timely." Now, I do suggest that you and your team talk about your vacation in the office as little as possible. Things are a lot worse than we thought."

"I understand," Horatio smiled, it was the tight-lipped grin that had been on his face so often lately. "I hope that some of the rumors I'm hearing are not true." He carefully leaned over and scrawled on the paper left-handed.

"So do I."

Calleigh knocked on the office door. "Everyone is waiting for you in the layout room."

"Thank you Ma'am."

"Rio?"

"No, I have a nine year old case that had just come back to the top of the pile." Oz nodded.

"Just remember what I said Caine."

"You can count on it."

Horatio left for the layout room, catching up with Calleigh, "Was that Oz?" she asked as she grabbed the door for him.

"It was."

"What did he want?"

"It seems that he has inherited Rick's old Desk." Horatio paused before the layout room door. "And he tells us, to trust no one."

Eric and Ryan were standing at the table, the rest of the team, including Tripp were lounged around the table so that they could all see the computer screens.

"This is Jeffery Douglas."

His Fiancé Lisa Marie Valez was found burned to death in her car. The cause of death was "undetermined" because there were still too many questions without answers.

Here is what we do know. Lisa Valdez was seven weeks pregnant in 2002 when Eric and I found her burned to death behind the wheel of her car. Our prime suspect was Jeffery Douglas. His official report was that he hadn't seen her in about seven weeks. We had another witness who saw him buying her lingerie three days before she died. Unfortunately the fire was so hot that it compromised any evidence there might have been."

Horatio pointed to one of the photos.

"This is his MO. He uses a Molotov cocktail to get rid of any evidence after he loads his victims up with Demerol. "

Eric stepped forward with a glass Jar. He placed it on the table near the pictures. "This is what he used to ignite the car." Eric sloshed it. "Or at least this is an inert version of it. This is an Exothermic Molotov Cocktail. This type of Molotv cocktail has no wick. It relies entirely on exothermic reaction and can very quickly get hot enough to melt glass. They are also extremely simple to make. You take a glass bottle, Paste the Potassium Chloride and sugar to the back of the paper label, fill the bottle with Gasoline and sulphuric acid and screw the lid on tight. When it breaks it ignites."

Horatio leaned on the table. "We have been informed that he may have struck again.

He leaned over and tapped a file folder on the digital desktop. "Now, before I continue, we are certain that Mr Douglas is aware of the open case. He is aware because of this."

Horatio pulled up the sequence of yearly photos that he had been sending. "John Douglas, Jeremy's step-son has brought to our attention the fact that He might have struck again. Possibly twice.

Carmen Perez disappeared shortly before my trip to Rio. She drove away and did not come back. Now John told me that his mother had told him to expect a new brother or sister, and that she was going to tell Jeremy. She disappeared three days later."

"Do we have any idea where she might be?" Calleigh asked.

Horatio nodded. "I called around to some of the other Florida counties, and came up with two cases that looked very similar to our own. Both of them are unidentified."

"If we think one is the mother, who is the other?"

"Julia Mason." Horatio pulled up a picture of her on the digital desktop. "She was a witness against Mr. Douglas in his kidnapping charge. She disappeared the day before she was to testify. And because of it, he went free."

"I'm having the evidence brought over, from the other two crimes. Lets start at the beginning on all three, lets see if there is a way to connect them. Calleigh, I need you to go over the original crime, fresh eyes, see if nine years gives us something to work with.

"Natalia, Wolfe, take the other two Eric and I will assist. We don't want to be accused of tunnel vision. We run this by the numbers," Horatio leaned forward, hand flat on the table. "This men has murdered at least two pregnant women. He knows we are on to him, so work quickly, and keep the pressure up."


End file.
